Girard of Angers, St.

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GIRARD OF ANGERS, ST.

Monk; b. Diocese of Angers, c. mid-11th century; d. Nov. 4, 1123. He was at first a secular cleric and then became a benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint-Aubin in Angers c. 1085. In 1097 he founded the priory of Sainte-Madeline in Brossay, and then another at Bois-de-Jarze. Apparently he was much given to fasting and reported having visions after prolonged fasts. Among other things, he reputedly predicted the death of Pope gelasius ii in 1119 and of King henry i's son, William, in 1120. A number of miracles were attributed to him, and he was canonized in 1468. His relics were enshrined in a chapel of the abbey church but were lost during the French Revolution.

Feast: Nov. 4.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum Nov. 2.1 (1894) 491509. a.m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 193338) 3:258260. e. c. a. litou, Vie de s. Girard, apôtre du pays de Brossay (Angers 1903).

[e. j. kealey]